It’s quite concerning that something like 37% of the land on this planet is used for agriculture with most of it used for livestock. Biodiversity is being destroyed so we can enjoy a grilled ribeye.
So, I understand the enthusiasm for lab-grown meat. At the same time, I don’t trust big corporations and their captured government agencies to be truthful about the long-term health effects of something like lab-grown meat, and I also expect the positive environmental impact may get overstated to push for outlawing traditional livestock in favor of lab-grown meat for which a handful of big corporations will own patents. Patented seeds for plants that don’t produce viable seeds and lab-grown meat sounds like a good way for corporations to have complete control over humanity’s food supply, more so than they do already.
No more farmers, lab grown food! Better for the environment, better for animals. Win win. Farmers in The Netherlands are seriously fucked up, going as far as threatening politicians with murder at their private home. So fuck meat, dairy and egg farmers. We only need fruits and vegetables, and lab grown meat is a nice addition.
Meat eating ties into a lot of people conceptions of masculinity. The idea that you might be eating something that didn’t have to die takes the power and dominance out of it - a sexual politics of meat if you will.
I’m not saying this is true of everyone who eats meat - but there is a certain type that this unambiguously true for. Think of the guys with the aviator glasses sitting in the truck pfp - eating dead cow is as American and masculine as fucking women.
(Think about how much the absolutely stupid “if vegs hate meat so much, why do they make fake meat?” sounds like “if lesbians don’t like mean, why do they use dildos?)
My vegan perspective: I'm uncomfortable with foods that continue to reproduce the aesthetics of exploitation and probably wouldn't eat it myself. But because it's affect on the world would likely include a sizable reduction in actual real animal exploitation, I'd welcome it's introduction and maybe even promote it to some.
I probably wouldn't eat it myself. Not due to "Muh meat. Muh masculinityh!" -- but because i feel like, that everytime we mess too much with food, we end up making it bad for ourselves in some weird way. Processed foods and all that jazz.
So i'll continue eating my legumes, greens and the monthly beef.
I watched a video (no source) on this stuff a while back and it compared the carbon footprint of plant based diets, meat alternatives and meat and came to the conclusion that the current way lab grown meat (not plant protein shaped like meat like planted, beyond etc) of the kind that article means can actually be more carbon intensive to produce than factory farmed chicken. (The least carbon intense meat). That said it is still better than free range beef, but one should consider the reason why one buys this. Vegans seem to not like it either because it resembles meat or because it contains the cells harvested from real animals and meat eaters don't like it because its not real meat, not to mention it's insanely expensive, just eat the plant protein, its not that bad lol. (Also put on a linear scale the carbon footprint of beef compared to plant based protein and fake meat is insane, thinking about that video alwqys makes me eat less meat)
I would absolutely eat this if it was the same price, or even slightly more expensive, than equivalent beef.
WHERE's NOLAN
